tautology (repeating the same meaning: working in partnership together, completely accurate).

When we write less we often say more. People will trust you more if you’re concise and straightforward.

4. Choose the right words

Use everyday words. Churchill did not say we shall commence hostilities on the coastal perimeter.

Go for more informal Germanic derived words like ask and answer ahead of their Latin equivalents of request and respond. If you wouldn’t say it outside work, don’t use it in your writing.

Keep your sentences short to make them easy to read. 24 words should be the maximum. Read it out loud. If you have to pause for breath, break it up.

5. Tell stories

An important principle of good writing is to ‘show, don’t tell’. Your company might call itself dynamic, say, but how does that work in practice? What does your dynamism look like? What is the end result?

Be specific—use concrete words, not vague terms. Select words the reader can touch, feel or hear to be memorable. Use metaphors to make complicated ideas simple and ‘active’ language to be clear.